February 2009Volume 6, No. 5

Here's What's Happening . . .
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Lower School Students' Artwork Selected For National Memorial and Museum for September 11th in New York City
Lower School art teacher Linda Woods gave her Class Two students an art assignment to create eighteen mixed-media murals of cities. Following a study of skyscrapers, children worked in groups of three or four and set about creating extremely imaginative buildings using patterned papers, metallic papers, and paint. Each group was to decide on a season and time of day for their mural. Skies were painted and foreground details were created. Students added cut paper people and cars, pets, trees, and other whimsical detail. Students initially were told that these murals would be donated as new semi-permanent art for St. John's public spaces such as Admissions, Advancement, the Lower School Office, The VST hallway, and other public areas. In lieu of giving the artwork away, each child will soon receive a CD with poster-sized photographed images of their artwork as a memento.

One group of three boys, Roosh Bhosale, Vijay Patel, and Ryan Fiedorek, begged Mrs. Woods to let them do the Twin Towers and 9/11 for their mural. Everyone else was doing cheery and childlike themes and imagery for their cities with beaches, harbors, winter skating scenes, a wedding, parks, and so on. Mrs. Woods just could not imagine this heavy topic hanging on a wall as new students and their parents walked into the Admissions Office. Relentless in their desire, these three boys repeatedly begged their teacher to let them choose this theme anyway. “We just REALLY, really, really want to do the Twin Towers,” they pleaded. Mrs. Woods initially tried to discourage them because she honestly could not imagine how seven and eight year old students would have enough insight to be able to do serious justice to such a sensitive topic. They were not born yet when 9/11 happened, or if they were, they were only babies. Was this just a young boy’s desire to show smoke and fire, explosions, etc. without fully comprehending that this was a real event, a human tragedy that changed the world forever? Further begging ensued. Their teacher finally relented because she could see that this was so very important to them. This mural just seemed to be meant to be.

From the beginning, the boys worked with a sense of purpose that was unusual. The care and precision that went into their building was impressive, as was every other student’s construction of their buildings. The three boys worked on every part of their mural together without disagreements. They all seemed to want to do this mural the same way. It just unfolded. Mrs. Woods was amazed to see their dedication to the project rise to the level where they wanted to come in at recess to do extra work on it. The students and their teacher had some very interesting conversations during those times. One child carefully crafted half an airplane and glued it to one of the towers. The word on the side of the airplane was “Iraq.” Mrs. Woods couldn’t decide whether to tell them the truth about the airplane and who flew it into the building or let it slide. Head of Lower School Ms. Curran and Mrs. Woods decided this was a teachable moment. Mrs. Woods felt she had to tell them that Iraq had nothing to do with that airline, and it was, in fact, two American airliners that were hijacked and flown into the towers on purpose. “What does hijack mean?” they asked. Mrs. Woods' stomach churned as she realized she now had to define “hijack” for them. She did that in as delicate a way as possible, but there is not a lot of leeway to pad the story of how Al Qaeda hijacked some of our own airplanes and flew them into those buildings.

Over the next few days the students and their teacher had more conversations. The boys, on their own, decided that the faces on the little people that they made were simply too happy for the context of the event. They changed the faces to reflect fear and anxiety. One of them made a talk bubble next to a woman who was in the park in front of the building. It said, “HELP! My husband is in that building!” Many taxis were made from cut paper and placed in front of the city. A hot dog stand with a smiling vendor was changed into a person with his mouth wide open as if screaming. A fire engine was created and a fireman stands in front of it. Initially this fireman had a smile on his face. They decided to change that, too. Mrs. Woods was very affected some days as her students were so young for this. But they seemed so curious about it and so interested in creating a true picture of the event.

It was about this time that one of the boys spilled a lot of grey paint in the bright blue sky and over the top of one of the towers. At first they were horrified! But this was a spill that was meant to be. With a little additional white paint and some finger painting, that spill turned into the most dramatic smoke above the buildings that any seven year old could ever dream of painting. It seemed almost like the painting was painting itself when that happened, and it is one of the most powerful parts of their painting.

One day Mrs. Woods showed the students Picasso’s “Guernica.” She explained to them that it hangs in the United Nations Building as a reminder to people of the horrors of war. They really seemed to get it. They spent about 10 minutes looking at this painting and talking about what it all meant. Meanwhile, the rest of the class was still busy creating their cheerful and incredible murals, but they were beginning to notice what Roosh, Vijay, and Ryan were doing.

They knew it was very different from all of the other murals. Many said it made them sad. Mrs. Woods agreed, because the story IS so sad. They talked about the fact that art is not always pretty. Other grade levels began to notice this mural in the art room and commented about how sad it was. There were some life lessons being learned here, and there was a growing respect for the boys by some of the older children who take art in Mrs. Woods' classroom. They all commented on how unusual it was for a second graders to make a picture like that and on the great job they were doing. Each day these older students wanted to show the mural to their friends and see what the boys had recently added to it.

At this time, Mrs. Woods decided that one of the boys needed to write something about this mural. She thought the mural was so powerful that it needed to be accompanied by a statement from the artists. What they were articulating to her about their work was very moving. Roosh immediately wanted to write the sign that they placed in the bottom corner of their mural. He sat down and without hesitation wrote, “We hope that this will never happen to any building ever again. We made this mural in honor of the Twin Towers which once stood in New York City and for all of the people who died there. God bless their families” signed, Roosh, Ryan, and Vijay, 2-3. Their compassion and understanding of this tragic event made them wise beyond their years.

Mrs. Woods put the finished murals up in the Lower School Commons for all to see. They are all wonderful, colorful, and depict the fun that the children had making them. The 9/11 mural was still in the classroom because the boys were now coming in almost daily at recess to add finishing touches that just seemed to keep growing.

It was about this time that Mrs. Woods started to search on the internet for children’s artwork about 9/11. She knew that this mural needed to find a place with other artwork about 9/11. She thought that the fact that these boys are second generation to the event made this mural even more notable. The new details that they learned about the event as the project evolved were handled by them with reactions that were honest, touching, and compassionate. Mrs. Woods kept having the feeling in her heart that these boys just might turn into diplomats or peace makers some day. She remembers, "I do think that their hearts opened up more to humanity as they went through the experience. They told me that they were very proud of their work. One of the things that I love about teaching children’s art is that the subject matter that is usually so fresh and filled with vitality. This was a different kind of children’s art happening in my classroom right alongside some of the happiest murals you will ever see that were made by their classmates. The contrast could not have been more stark."

Mrs. Woods' internet search turned up an art collection at the National Museum and Memorial for September 11th. That same day she wrote a letter to the Museum and informed the boys’ parents. She also told the boys what she was doing, and that it would be a while before they heard back from them. The Museum might not be taking any more art, but then again, they might be. They waited for what seemed like forever to hear back from the Museum. On Thursday, February 12th, Mrs. Woods opened the acceptance email from the curator of the museum. She gasped as she read the words that their work was accepted! Mrs. Woods was absolutely thrilled for her students. One can imagine their reaction and their parent’s reaction to this news. All were ecstatic and so proud of the boys’ work.

Congratulations to Roosh, Vijay, and Ryan. The students are going to have their artwork in the National Museum and Memorial for September 11th, in New York City! Everyone is so proud! And congratulations to the rest of Class Two. Their amazing murals are going to add cheer and life to important places on the St. John’s campus.

All the murals will be on display in the Lower School Commons during Lower School parent conferences. The students' artwork may be viewed online at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center by visiting their website.

By Linda Woods
Lower School Art Teacher